When analyzing materials, it is often useful to use a multi-mode analytical microscope which allows conventional forms of microscopic imaging of the material in question in combination with some other form of imaging/analysis. As an example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,661,509 to Deck et al. describes a multi-mode analytical microscope which provides both conventional optical microscopy (i.e., magnified viewing of microscopic sections of a sample) with Raman spectrometric analysis (i.e., analysis of laser light scattered by the sample, which can provide information about the composition of the sample). Other types of multi-mode microscopes may provide additional or alternative types of microscopic viewing (e.g., fluorescence microscopy, which allows viewing of wavelength-shifted light emitted from a sample) with additional or alternative types of sample analysis (e.g., spectrometric analysis of light emitted and/or scattered by a sample from incident light in infrared, visible, and/or ultraviolet wavelengths).
While multi-mode analytical microscopes can often be constructed by “superimposing” features of different microscopes, spectrometers, and similar instruments—in other words, by simply combining the components of the different instruments about the sample mount/stage so that the different instruments may be used together—such a construction can be expensive and inefficient, with the combined instruments providing redundant and/or interfering components. As an example, it is desirable to have the optical elements (lenses, mirrors, etc.) of one instrument also at least partially serve as the optical elements of the other instrument, thereby allowing a reduction in cost and physical size of the combined instrument. However, this may not be feasible because optical elements designed for use in visible (“Vis”) wavelength ranges, ultraviolet (UV) wavelength ranges, and infrared (IR) wavelength ranges are generally not appropriate for use at other ones of the ranges: the different instruments may effectively have incompatible optics. Thus, it is often necessary to provide components for each of the combined instruments, and to possibly move/exchange these components when changing the multi-mode instrument from one mode of viewing/analysis to another. This can lead to greater instrument costs and size, as well as added complexity when performing viewing/analysis techniques. In particular, the need to switch optics can lead to difficulties in accurate viewing and analysis. To illustrate, after microscopically viewing some specific region of interest on the sample, it can be problematic to switch optics to then allow spectrometric analysis of the same region on the sample because of difficulties in attaining the same alignment of the microscopic and spectrometric optics. It would therefore be useful to have available additional multi-mode analytical microscopy devices and methods which eliminate at least some of the component redundancies, excessive space, viewing/analysis difficulties, and other drawbacks of conventional arrangements.